"Fish tales: the influence of hemoprotein expression on cardiovascular physiology of Antarctic notothenioids"

Antarctic icefishes are the only known vertebrate animals to lack hemoglobin in their blood as adults. Some of these species also lack myoglobin in their hearts. Loss of these important oxygen-related hemoproteins has resulted in a suite of compensations to the circulatory system. I will discuss the unique cardiovascular features of Antarctic notothenioids and provide data to support how these traits may have originated via biochemical signaling pathways mediated by nitric oxide.